It is being reported that the young teaching couple made a complaint to police in Rayong recently after receiving threats from a football betting concern over Mr Arocha’s outstanding gambling debts. The Ducati motorbike stolen from the scene of the double murder was being sold by the 33-year-old teacher in an effort to clear his debts and put the habit behind him.
A Thai mother and father mourning their 33-year-old son, a teacher murdered alongside his teacher wife in Rayong on Wednesday night are calling for the killer who was arrested by police on Saturday on a warrant for premeditated murder to be executed if found guilty of the crime. Police have yet to establish the real motive for the murder but do believe that the killing was preplanned and deliberate.
The parents of one of the teachers brutally murdered with his wife at their home in Rayong on Wednesday night have called on the Thai courts to hand down and carry out the death sentence on the prime suspect in the case. They were speaking to the press as they mourned their teacher son.
Saturday morning arrest of a 22-year-old Thai man on a charge of premeditated murder
On Saturday morning, Thai police in Chiang Mai arrested 22-year-old Supakrit Sujasee from the Saraphi district of the northern city on a warrant issued earlier by a court in Rayong province for premeditated murder and theft. The suspected killer was arrested in the company of a friend identified as Mr Panuphong Bualoy.
Being assisted to flee into Myanmar
It is understood that Mr Supakrit may have travelled from Don Mueang Airport to Chiang Mai and was being assisted by Mr Panuphong to flee the jurisdiction by crossing the border into Myanmar.
Atrocious crime – cold, calculated murder
The crime that Mr Supakrit was wanted for appears a particularly atrocious example of calculated murder. Police are still investigating the murder of 33-year old Arocha Supanith and his wife also aged 33, Preeyaporn Piang-ngam.
Both were teachers at Assumption College in Rayong where Mr Arocha thought Physics and Ms Preeyaporn thought mathematics.
Couple lived in a modern, attractive two-story home in Rayong and worked together at the same school
The couple lived in a modern two-story home at tambon Thapma in the Mueang district of Rayong.
It was here that a female relative found their bodies on the second floor of the property on Thursday afternoon after the alarm was raised by their school, the couple’s employer when the two teachers failed to turn up for class.
Motivation for the murder not yet clear
It is still not clear what the real motivation for the attack and murder of the couple in their home was as police continue their investigation.
An expensive red Ducati motorbike valued at ฿600,000 was taken from the scene and found by police at a Chonburi motorbike garage on Friday.
The killer had made contact with Mr Arocha on the pretext of purchasing the motorbike on Facebook.
33-year-old teacher Mr Arocha had an online gambling problem but had sought help
It is understood that Mr Arocha had a chronic gambling problem and was addicted to online betting on football.
Such websites are run from outside Thailand often using servers outside the kingdom and run from Cambodia where a huge gambling industry is developing spurred by money from Chinese organised crime groups.
Teacher’s foster mother was assisting him to get out of his gambling nightmare and pay off debts
On Friday, 60-year-old Chonlathorn Charoenphol, who was Mr Aricha’s foster mother, revealed that the young teacher had run up extensive gambling debts.
The woman explained that she had helped him to pay his debts on several occasions. She also knew that he had intended to sell his prized Ducati big bike to pay off his debts and was trying to leave the habit behind him.
Married couple filed a complaint with Rayong police over threats from a gambling syndicate
Also on the same day, it was revealed that the teaching couple had filed a police complaint at Rayong Police station.
They told police officers that they had been threatened by certain individuals working with one of the football gambling concerns because of Mr Aocaha’s inability to pay outstanding debts.
Prime suspect 22-year-old Mr Supakrit contacted the teacher in response to a Facebook advertisement
Police officers investigating the murder have established that the main suspect in the case, 22-year-old Supakrit Sujasee, had made message contact with Mr Arocha on Facebook responding to an advertisement placed on the site placed 2 months ago to sell the 2-year-old motorbike.
Murder occurred on Wednesday night
It is believed that the murder of the two teachers occurred on Wednesday night after the suspect arrived at the couple’s home purporting to be interested in purchasing the motorbike.
Police found evidence of a violent struggle on the first floor of the home with blood found and a fruit knife. Upstairs, they found the two bodies of the young teachers placed near each other.
Autopsy showed both teachers had been shot in the head
An autopsy of the bodies found that they had both been shot with bullets to the head.
It is understood that the killer then dragged the bodies upstairs where he inflicted knife wounds including a wound to the woman’s head and a throat cut to the Mr Arocha the physics teacher.
Tried to make the double murder look like a marriage tiff gone wrong including a forged note
Police surmised that the killer intended that the killing would look like a personal dispute and violent struggle between the couple gone wrong. A handwritten note in Thai was placed on the door.
It read: ‘Go away wherever you want. Do not come to disturb me anymore. Pack your clothes and go. Ask your younger brother to return my vehicle.’
Neither of the couple’s handwriting say friends
Police investigating the murder on Thursday obtained CCTV footage showing the killer arriving at the home on Wednesday night and driving away later on the Ducati motorbike.
Colleagues of the two teachers at the Assumption College in Rayong categorically told police that the handwriting was neither the hand of Mr Arocha or Ms Preeyaporn.
Neighbours in the area also told police that they heard what sounded like three gunshots on the night of the murder.
School offers condolences to the families
On Friday, the Assumption College in Rayong posted on the school’s website its expression condolence to the families of two young, loved and respected teachers.
Police identified the killer at Don Mueang on Friday
The same day, police through a number of sources identified the prime culprit Mr Supakrit as being near Don Mueang Airport. This lead to his arrest on Saturday.
Quick arrest of the suspect in the murders applauded by teacher’s father as he mourns his son
The arrest of the suspected killer was applauded by Mr Samarnn Supanith, the 64-year-old father of Mr Arocha on Saturday.
Mr Samarn and Ms Prachern Supanith had gone to Rayong on Friday to bring back the body of their son for Buddhist funeral rites in Chai Nat province.
Family ask that the death penalty be handed down and carried out on the killer for the dual murder
On Saturday, in front of the coffin of their son who will be cremated on December 6th after full funeral rites, Mr Arocha’s father and mother both called for the death penalty to be handed down by the Thai courts and carried out to give the family justice for the loss of their son.
Father tells his dead son that his killer will face justice
Today in Chai Nat province, Mr Samparn knocked on the coffin to tell his dead son that the man who had brutally cut him down was now going to face justice for his crime. He said he was very happy to hear news of the swift arrest of the killer.
Mother of slain teacher wants to see the life of her son’s killer forfeited – Why did you kill my son?
62-year-old Ms Prachern told reporters that she would like to ask the killer some questions.
‘Why did you kill my son? Why did you take the life of a defenceless person? I don’t understand why a good person had to be killed by this sort of man,’ she exclaimed.
She was adamant however the life of 22-year-old Supakrit Sujasee had to be offered up for his vile and dark-hearted act after the man first faces a proper trial by law.
Both parents said they were calling on the Thai judges and the judicial system to put the man to death if he is found guilty of murdering their son and his wife this week.
Further reading:
The murderer walks police officers through his monstrous crime that has outraged Thailand
Death sentence for murderous trio who executed a loving Thai wife and her UK husband in Phrae
